Comments for the name Ishmael

This name is immediately associated with Herman Melville's most famous novel, Moby-Dick, by many Americans. The narrator of the book asks the reader in the first line to "Call me Ishmael." (It isn't clear if Ishmael is his real name or if the narrator has taken it as a pseudonym.) This is one of the most famous opening lines of all English-language novels.

Ishmael is a character in Lemony Snicket's final book in 'Series of Unfortunate Events," entitled 'The End.' In the book, Ishmael practically rules the island that the three Baudelaire children wash up on. Ishmael is very secretive although he doesn't tolerate secrets within the island civilization. His feet are covered in clay, supposedly because they are "injured" when truthfully he is covering up his eye tattoo matching Count Olaf's. He used to be a member of V.F.D. and secretly has a hideaway on the other side of the island. In the end, Ishmael is last seem on a raft full of people with a poisonous disease, escaping the island.